The women’s team rode on Moriangthem’s hat-trick to thump Sri Lanka 8-1 at the Bir Shrestha Mostafa Kamal Stadium but their male counterparts went down 0-1 to Afghanistan at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.
The match between the Indian eves and SL was a lop-sided affair with Moriangthem striking in the ninth, 56th and 59th minutes.
Team-mates, Naoba Chaun scored back-to-back goals in the 82nd and 83rd minutes, while Sasmita (45th), Yumnam (51st) and Pinky Bompal (90+1) completed the rout.
Sri Lanka reduced the margin through Pushpa Ekanayaka in the 74th minute. Indian men’s team, however, began their campaign with a defeat.
Belal Arezou scored the sole goal two minutes before the interval and India’s frantic quest for the equaliser did not materialise.
The Bangladesh eves, meanwhile, began their campaign on a losing note as they went down 0-1 to Nepal. The lone goal of the match came from the boot of Jamuna Gurung in the 37th minute.
Bangladesh produced a couple of chances in the second half but Rousonara Akther Bolu missed both in the 73th and 84th minutes.
Gill impressed
Meanwhile, impressed with the way Bangladesh conducted the opening ceremony, Sports Minister M S Gill said India could learn a few things from it for the ensuing Commonwealth Games back home.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared open the Games, which Gill termed as South Asia’s “Olympics”.
Thousands of school students and Army men participated in the gala ceremony which glimpsed the culture and heritage of the nation. “It’s not easy task to bring more than 10,000 school children, youth to put up such a show. There is something we can learn from this ahead of the opening of the Commonwealth Games on October 3,” Gill said after the ceremony.
Nepalese athletes hurt in lift mishap
The Nepalese contingent in the 11th South Asian Games has been hit by injuries even before the start of the event with nine of their athletes and an official injuring in a lift mishap at the team hotel on Friday, reports PTI from Dhaka.
Of the injured players, seven are judokas while two are weightlifters, both of whom were silver medallists in the last edition of the South Asian Games in Colombo (2006).
According to the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA), judoka Kuluman Tamang has fractured his leg and is virtually out of the competition. Nepal has sent a 430-strong contingent for the event. The incident took place in the afternoon when the lift, overcrowded by Nepalese athletes and officials, fell from the third floor of the Imperial Hotel International just opposite the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
